The invention relates to a medical device, and more particularly to a medical device useful during minimally invasive procedures, such as laparoscopic procedures, for conveniently deploying a sheet of fabric within the abdominal cavity.
During minimally invasive types of surgery such as laparoscopic procedures it is sometimes necessary to spread out a sheet of fabric within a body cavity and adhere the fabric to a tissue mass. An example of such a procedure is hernia repair wherein sheets of fabric such as woven polyolefin fabrics are used. In addition, woven fabrics manufactured from oxidized cellulose are used in gynecologic pelvic surgery and in other procedures to reduce the tendency for the formation of adhesions. For instance, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,539, 5,134,229, 5,002,551 and 4,840,626.
Deployment of sheets of fabric in a controlled manner within a body cavity is difficult, particularly in the case of bioabsorbable fabrics made from oxidized cellulose, which once wet become tacky and have a tendency to bond to themselves and to adjacent surfaces. A prior art device for deploying fabric sheets is shown in FIG. 1. This device includes spring elements 10 which hook into the corners of the fabric 12 to be deployed. The spring elements and fabric are compressed and loaded in a delivery tube 14. Upon exiting the delivery tube 14 the spring elements 10 spread apart, deploying the fabric 12. However, in practice these devices are difficult to use because it is difficult to attach and release the fabric 12 from the spring elements 10, and loading the bunched up fabric and spring elements in the delivery tube 14 is also difficult. Such a device is manufactured by Cabot Medical.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,000 discloses a device for deploying fabrics wherein a thin superelastic Nitinol wire, or similar springy material, is threaded through the material to be deployed. The material is then folded or rolled around an introducer and contained in a delivery tube. On exiting the delivery tube the wire springs out to its preferred, unconstrained state, deploying the fabric. The disadvantage of this approach is that generally, once the fabric has been tacked or bonded in place, the wire must be left in or withdrawn carefully from the periphery of the material without dislodging it. It is also somewhat laborious to place the wire around the edges of the fabric in the first place.